The Silenced Voices: Why Book Bans Are a Threat to Democracy

Written by Naiesha Yerneni on October 1, 2023

    The idea of book bans seems quite unusual, doesn’t it? After all, books are only books and can’t cause much harm to anyone. Not only this, but the First Amendment of the United States Constitution clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise”. Then why do some people of the government and certain citizens feel as though they can ban books? We have the right to read, produce, and write books however we want. Frankly, it is none of their business. 

According to PEN America a school book ban is defined as when the government decides to stop kids from reading a book because some parents or people in the community don't like it, or the school administrators or government people pressure the schools to do it. In practice, this means that they take a book away from students or make it really hard for them to get it. This practice is detrimental to students because it limits different ideas, stops access to knowledge, and takes away our freedom to learn and think for ourselves. Ultimately, when authority bans books in schools, it causes a decline in education and keeps students from growing intellectually and morally. 

In many cases, these bans have been focused on books that discuss LGBTQ+ topics. Like, there are books such as "Heather Has Two Mommies" and "And Tango Makes Three" that some schools and libraries tried to ban. These books are about families with LGBTQ+ parents and arguably help teach students to be more understanding and accepting. But when they're banned, it's implying that these families and identities are unacceptable. 

In the significant 1982 Supreme Court case Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico–often referred to as the Pico Case–the issue of censorship in school libraries was evaluated. In this case, students and their parents challenged the school district's decision to remove certain books that were “anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic and just plain filthy.” (according to a parent group living in that particular school district) from the school library. These books were seen as controversial or objectionable by some parents and members of the community. The school district had removed the books from the library shelves, and the students and their parents argued that this violated their First Amendment rights to access information and ideas. As mentioned before, we have the right to read whatever we want, and taking certain books away because of their content violates that right. The Supreme Court ruled in the students’ favor on First Amendment grounds, holding that the right to read is implied by the First Amendment. The government—in this case, a public school—cannot restrict speech because it does not agree with the content of that speech. The decisions called libraries places for “voluntary inquiry” and concluded that the school board’s “absolute discretion” over the classroom did not extend to the library for that reason.

According to the Washington Post, the books were banned not due to inappropriate content but because the moral values in the books didn't align with the Supreme Court Justices. This resulted in many students rebelling against the school board as they believed it wasn't right to ban the books because it didn't align with the school board’s beliefs. And those students were absolutely correct. They chose to fight for what they believed was right and we as citizens should also do so. We should be speaking up against these book bans before they get more restrictive. Who knows when authorities will start being more restrictive towards us citizens and ban books because they portray situations that aren't ideal for the government. At the end of the day, those who want to read the banned books will find a way. Banning the books only makes it illegal.